The French (Im)Perfection

Another quick post with a few pieces by designer Thomas Sauvage for Ego Paris. It's really stunning outdoor furniture that seems to just scream to be at some five star hotel on the French Riviera.

First, the Premiere Collection, here's the lounge chair:

For something seaside, you have to love how it looks like a fish. It's perfect. The low armchair also has a certain grace to it:

But we do have a bit of a problem, Houston. Sauvage has created an entire collection out of one idea. Unfortunately, in extrapolating each style into too many different pieces, he somehow gets lost. Some of the other pieces, while they do appear to be part of the same collection, end up boring at best, and at worst, just plain awkward. The Premiere Armchair is doing nothing for me at all, although I suppose it's inoffensive enough:

But the Premiere café table is almost messy. If nothing else, it for sure has none of the elegance of the lounge chair, at all:

The same thing happens with the Tandem Collection. The lounge chairs for sunbathing are so beautifully sophisticated:

I adore how the mesh is totally flush with the wood, and they gently diverge to curve up and down. It's a terribly adept handling of shape of materials. Even in a more shocking yellow, the lines are perfect and the umbrellas are unique and interesting:

The collection is basically sectional, allowing you to create all different seating arrangements around the pool. The other low, loungey pieces are all quite nice and work entirely harmoniously in groups.

But again, trying to apply the same style to other pieces in the collection was not the best idea. The tables are fine and simple, but end up looking mostly bland and utilitarian. The Tandem High Bench is almost downright horrifying:

A minute ago I was relaxing at the pool sipping on a Mojito. Now I'm...in the army? Weird. Sauvage clearly has talent and a good eye. I think he'd be well served to either create pieces that merely complement one another without being so literal and trying to force them against their will into one inflexible style, or recognize when a style concept has been exhausted and allow the collections to be a little less all inclusive. If he began another collection altogether at the dining table and chairs, I'm sure they'd be exquisite, but perhaps extending it all the way down to lounge chairs would be inadvisable...not to mention unnecessary.

©2009, Ryan Witte